Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia

A Decade After the Soviet Collapse, Russia remains a country in limbo, a land of vast potential struggling with an unfinished past. Journeying to Russia's five corners -- Moscow, Chechnya, Norilsk, Sakhalin, and St. Petersburg -- Andrew Meier, a former Moscow correspondent for Tune magazine, presents a history of contemporary Russia, a deep map of lands where flew foreigners have ventured. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, Meier explores Russia's unbridled market and often lethal politics. From Chechnya, where he investigates the worst single-day massacre of civilians, to Norilsk, the world's northernmost city, Meier, a bold new voice in political journalism, uncovers a common theme: the need to find meaning amid the Soviet ruins, to unearth -- often literally -- the past in order to preserve it, escape it, or bury it for good. In the tradition of Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Black Earth is a penetrating, riveting view of the new Russia that has emerged in recent years.